A "little" secret

Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Purple, almost black sores covered the lower part of my arm. I caught the scream in my throat remembering I could not draw attention to myself. I toyed with the idea of texting Caleb but I couldn't be sure that Alexandria hadn't sent that text or that they wouldn't read the message on his phone. As I thought about this I pulled the sleeve of my hoodie up further. The sores seemed to stop there. My heart was thudding making my head pound. It looked like I was going to need that sugary tea.

I set the straightners down on the table, my hand trembling uncontrollably. What was I going to do? My mind flipped back to English class, Shakespeare, a clip describing the bubonic plague. My mind fast forwarded again. I gasped realising what it was. Not the bubonic plague. Something much, much worse. I heard the door open behind me.

"Caleb?" I squeaked trying to keep my voice level incase it was someone else and failing miserably.

"Nick. Sorry, um. Your aunt Hilary wants you. She says your mums on the phone." He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "She's in the library. Do you need me to..." he trailed off as I shook my head. After he left the room I slipped off the hoodie and put on a longer jumper which would hopefully cover the spot things. I went into the landing and then down the stairs taking them two at a time, swinging round the nule post at the bottom. I paused trying to remember where the library was and then walked towards where the kitchen was. I pushed open the door and came face to face with Aunt Hilary.

"Enjoying your time here?" she said pleasantly enough.

"Oh, yeah. Its good fun learning to ride and all." I replied cheerfully. She took a seat beside the lit fire. I wondered why they'd lit one in July but brushed it off. It didn't matter. Aunt Hilary motioned for me to join her in a chair opposite and then passed me an faded white phone that looked as if it had seen better days.

"Mum?" I said pressing the phone to my ear. "How are you." I said trying to sound casual.

"Darling. I called because there's been a complication at work; you know how hard it is at the minute."

I certainly did know, as I said, she wasn't around a lot of the time. I sighed into the receiver and hoped the complication wasn't too serious.

"I'm going to have to ask you stay at your aunt's house a little longer. There's another conference and I need to go to represent the bank. Only a few more days, I swear." She insisted

After that I didn't really feel like talking much. I didn't trust myself; little did she know that a few more days could be ideal. She asked me about the cousins and I replied neutrally knowing that anything Aunt Hilary heard might be repeated to them. I put the phone down  and smiled at aunt Hilary.

"What did she want dear?" she said raising her eyebrows. "She never said to me."

"Just that..." I paused. Better think ahead to the plan. "Her conference finished a day early. She's on her way now." She licked her lip and stood up

"Very well. It was a pleasure having you, even if it was for so short a time." She said without emotion.

I set the phone back on its base just as the dinner gong sounded so I rushed straight to our dinning room.  Caleb was sitting in there alone, picking at his food.  I sat down beside him and using a serving spoon put a lump of mashed potato on my plate. He didn't seem to be in a talking mood or maybe he just didn't know what to say. He left soon after I arrived in only to be replaced by Nick. As I hadn't really spoken to Nick properly I presumed that this would be more awkward still but to my surprise he started to speak.

"You seem to enjoy riding with Caleb" he said, chewing his food slowly.

I shrugged, not wanting to dig a hole for myself.